NACTU is founded

Delegates from 33 unions launched a large nonracial federation committed to industrial organization and the wider struggle for democracy.

The government ended the partial emergency, but repression and resistance continued and a broader emergency followed only months later.

The government introduced extensive detention, censorship and security powers across the country before the tenth anniversary of the Soweto uprising.

Security forces detained activists and restricted gatherings, while communities commemorated the students killed in 1976 and renewed demands for liberation.

Congress enacted the Comprehensive Anti-Apartheid Act, restricting trade and investment despite President Reagan's opposition.

The election excluded the African majority and occurred under emergency rule, while the Conservative Party grew on the white right.

An explosion devastated the trade-union federation's Johannesburg headquarters amid state and covert attacks on democratic organizations.

More than 300,000 Black mineworkers struck over wages, safety and working conditions in the largest industrial action in South African history to that point.

After twenty-three years in prison, the Rivonia veteran became the first of the senior ANC political prisoners to be released.

Seventeen democratic organizations were effectively prohibited from political activity, forcing opposition networks to reorganize through the Mass Democratic Movement.